The Computer has a lot of advantages, i.e. perfect drone/probe/scv usage in the beginning, no delay between getting resources and using them, never gets supply blocked because it never forgets to build supply units, etc. This makes the AI exceptionally strong in the early game. However, the AI has several disadvantages, i.e. it never uses focus fire, it has horrible micro (close to none, mostly just like "attack-move" and put tanks in and out of siege mode) and it cannot adapt very good to your long term strategy.
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dbemerlinAug 16 '10 at 14:59

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I would actually disagree with the micro part. I've seen it do insane micro with ghosts by locking down entire air fleets in a split second.
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The JugAug 16 '10 at 15:19

True, it has awesome micro for special abilities (eventhough it tends to waste several psi storms on a single zergling, which can be abused), but it won't retreat damaged units or do anything else non-special-ability-related than attack-move to the target.
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dbemerlinAug 16 '10 at 15:32

My friends and I joked that each unit is given it's own AI when it comes to using special abilities.
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MrPants888Aug 17 '10 at 16:28

5 Answers
5

The SC1 AI knows where everything is. It will still need line of sight for things like siege tanks to fire, but it knows what's there. If you'd like to confirm this yourself, play a 1v1 on an 8 player map and watch the replay after. The AI beelines all attacks for you without ever having scouted the other spawn points.

+1 for suggesting a way to verify your answer. I wish I had thought of that. :(
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WillfulWizardAug 16 '10 at 17:03

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@gracenote I don't think that's a fair test, because if you enable vision for yourself to watch what he's doing, he would then have access to full vision too. A replay is a much fairer test.
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McKayAug 16 '10 at 17:22

@McKay Does enabling full vision for yourself actually enable it for the CPU as well?
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Grace Note♦Aug 16 '10 at 17:34

@Grace I think McKay's point is you don't know the side effects, which may or may not render the test invalid..
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C. RossAug 16 '10 at 18:15

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Enabling vision in a replay does not give any of the players vision. It's purely a UI setting for the replay viewer. Everything else would desync and thus corrupt the replay. Single player cheats on the other hand are recorded as actions in a replay and thus do not desync the replay.
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CodesInChaosSep 10 '11 at 23:00

As far as I know the AI never "cheats" in the sense of it knows more then you or has more resources. It can however pull off some inhuman stunts, for instance if you assult a location on the map with cloaked forces it tends to comsat that location instantly about 3-4 times (however many comsats it has) even if it was in the middle of defending a base, building, and attacking some other place already. Course maybe some Korean pros can do it... seems inhuman to me.

As for knowing where your bases are, most SC maps are pretty traditionally mirrored and for the most part you can take a pretty logical guess as to where your opponents has started and their first 2 or 3 expansions without even scouting. There's really only a handful of non-traditional maps that are rather wacky (I think Newgettysberg is kinda weird if I remember correctly) that would throw some people for a loop. However even a human player has usually played those few ones enough to know where to look, so it's not inconceivable (to me at least) that the computer would logically know where you are.

I probably shouldn't say 2 or 3 expansions. More like 1 or 2. After that you're usually fighting for expansions so you know where they are just from conflict.
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The JugAug 16 '10 at 14:52

If the computer seems rather harsh don't worry it takes time to get used to it. SC1 AI has no difficulty setting so it always seems set to brutal (especially terran). It really is just trial by fire. It can however be defeated once you get more into the game you'll not have as much difficulty taking it down. I recommend playing with some friends, much easier to beat the AI then. It takes time but you'll eventually master ways to take them down =)
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The JugAug 16 '10 at 15:00

As far as I know Mischa is correct about the fog of war, although not the minerals. The AI is built on the same engine as the game, and automatically knows where everything is. Try doing 1v1's on 8 player maps and see if the AI ever scouts or attacks the wrong spawn location - it won't.
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en1gmatic325Aug 16 '10 at 16:52

Yes. Starcraft 1 AI starts with the map explored and knowledge your location. They did this to ease the difficulty of programming the AI with what to do when it does not know where the enemy is. Now if only I could find a reference to support my statement...

I'm willing to bet that the same is true in SC2, but the playing field is more even since you also start with the map explored, and have the human ability to guess the likely location of the AI, especially on symmetrical team V team maps.

The sc2 AI knows all the starting positions (just as you do) but it does have to explore them. You can often see the AI sending scouts to check all start locations, and as the game progresses they scout all possible base locations repeatedly.
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Jack B NimbleAug 18 '10 at 16:44

Hi @Kiwi, welcome to the site! Can you link to the source of that?
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C. RossAug 17 '10 at 12:29

This may appear to be the case but I'm willing to bet that this is a bad conclusion from observing the computer get more Minerals/SCV/time. I'd bet the real effect occurring is the AI carefully sending each SCV to a different available Mineral patch, which human players don't have the time to micro. But if this is observable on Gas, then my theory is wrong and maybe this is true.
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WillfulWizardAug 18 '10 at 18:39

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Isn't it always 8 minerals or gas a trip as long as the mineral block or gas mine is not used up???
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Andrew J. BrehmFeb 16 '11 at 15:41

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This answer seems to be meaning Starcraft 2. There the AI does cheat with his workers bringing 7 minerals per trip instead of 5. Don't know where the numbers 4 and 6 came from though.
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RotsorMay 23 '11 at 8:03

Wrong for SC1. Workers always carry 8 mins/gas per trip. And it's the same for the AI.
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CodesInChaosSep 10 '11 at 23:01